Changing Medications (Level of Trust Required)

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

I am not sure if my medications did their jobs properly today. It's been a long day, starting with Mrs. Prof going off to work to meet with some higher-ups in one of the companies negotiating for her agency's lucrative shipping contract. She's not going to be home until well past 10 p.m. CDT, so that means I got stuck with feeding all of the cats (one house cat, three or four ferals in our colony (depending on how many show up for dinner tonight), and one semi-feral that's been in a kennel in a spare bedroom for more than two weeks while a horrendous neck wound heals). In between, I have:

• Revised my agent query letter for Tapper based on a critique I received. (Been waiting for critiques of the revision—none have been forthcoming.)
• Tried twice to revise my synopsis of Tapper, only to give up both times.
• Slept due to the usual morning medications whipping any caffeine to shreds with a rubber hose.
• Not slept due to gastric issues that required Imodium to resolve.
• Not paid the lawn service company, since they didn't show as scheduled today.

I indulged myself a bit by ordering a Papa John's Mushroom Swiss Burger pizza and a chocolate chip cookie (the big one, with sliced portions (ate two)). I've since found myself bouncing back and forth on the web between here and Scribophile, hoping for interaction of some sort. Haven't found much, hence this post. It's just been an overall bleaugh day.

I'll be taking my evening medications in about 15 minutes. I hope they work better than my morning doses did.

 

[The Old Hack 2,448]

16 minutes ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

I am not sure if my medications did their jobs properly today. It's been a long day, starting with Mrs. Prof going off to work to meet with some higher-ups in one of the companies negotiating for her agency's lucrative shipping contract. She's not going to be home until well past 10 p.m. CDT, so that means I got stuck with feeding all of the cats (one house cat, three or four ferals in our colony (depending on how many show up for dinner tonight), and one semi-feral that's been in a kennel in a spare bedroom for more than two weeks while a horrendous neck wound heals). In between, I have:

• Revised my agent query letter for Tapper based on a critique I received. (Been waiting for critiques of the revision—none have been forthcoming.)
• Tried twice to revise my synopsis of Tapper, only to give up both times.
• Slept due to the usual morning medications whipping any caffeine to shreds with a rubber hose.
• Not slept due to gastric issues that required Imodium to resolve.
• Not paid the lawn service company, since they didn't show as scheduled today.

I indulged myself a bit by ordering a Papa John's Mushroom Swiss Burger pizza and a chocolate chip cookie (the big one, with sliced portions (ate two)). I've since found myself bouncing back and forth on the web between here and Scribophile, hoping for interaction of some sort. Haven't found much, hence this post. It's just been an overall bleaugh day.

I'll be taking my evening medications in about 15 minutes. I hope they work better than my morning doses did.

 

Days like that can be depressing. I hope you'll feel better soon and that your meds will get back on the job. Give my regards to Mrs. Prof and the kitties!

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

Well, Mrs. Prof arrived shortly before 10 p.m. — I guess the vendor schmoozing went let out early, or whatever she was doing. I don't ask anymore.

The nighttime meds knocked me out, but I was awakened by a very affectionate house cat who is probably trying to wake up Mrs. Prof for the same affection now. I just wish he wouldn't get the urge to try and eat my laptop's cables now and then.

One of my anti-allergy OTC supplements (Quercetin + Bromelain) is supposed to be taken on an empty stomach, 20 minutes before eating, which rarely happens here since I usually take all my pills at once. I'm trying the 20 minute trick this morning. I just realized that I'm supposed to be taking it 2 to 3 times a day, and that people with pineapple allergies aren't supposed to take it (WTF? Glad that's not me.). Guess that's what I get for forgetting what's printed on the label. Better order some more.

8 hours ago, The Old Hack said:

Days like that can be depressing. I hope you'll feel better soon and that your meds will get back on the job. Give my regards to Mrs. Prof and the kitties!

Thank you — very much appreciated. I don't know if the cats will know what's going on, though.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

The vitamin E + selenium mentioned in another thread has arrived from Amazon. Solgar brand "Natural Dry E with Yeast Free Selenium." Contains 500 IU of d-Alpha Tocopherol Succinate  mixed with 150mcg of L-selenomethionine. I hope the dosages are sufficient to make a difference in my energy deficit.

I started taking it yesterday. I'm not expecting a quick fix (and, true to form, I'm not getting one), but I'm definitely going to put a time limit on this one. Why? It smells bad. Not horrible, just in sort of a sour milk-like way. It gives me sour milk-like gas, too, for about ten minutes after taking it. Weird.

In other news, I'm rather P. O.ed at my doctor and his staff at the moment. They're supposed to check their "Patient Portal" on a daily basis. Well, they didn't check it Friday. I logged in and e-mailed them the night before, requesting a refill of the Tramadol I take for chronic pain syndrome (i.e., my ankles). Told him I only had a few days left. (I didn't realize it at the time, but I only had enough to get me through tomorrow night.) CVS never got an order for a refill. So, early Monday morning, I'm going to have to get on the phone, hope that I don't dial in too late to get one of his medical assistants, and try to get my Tramadol refilled.

Otherwise, it's going to be a long, ibuprofen-fueled day (and I'm not supposed to take ibuprofen due to an internal bleeding risk).

As others here say, this is not my happy face.

[mlooney 3,417]

First world drug problem:
My generic Excedrin / "acetaminophen plus aspirin plus caffeine" and my generic "just acetaminophen, but twice as much acetaminophen" tablets look identical and are in the same size and shape bottle.  If I take the just acetaminophen tablets I can't take the generic Excedrin for at least 6 hours with out risking acetaminophen overdose, which, in general is a bad idea.

Every thing I have read on the subject says that any analgesic plus caffeine works better than just the analgesic, which is great, unless it's late after noon or early evening and you are planing on sleeping that night.  Of course I have decided that normal sleeping hours are for chumps, so that may or may not be a problem going forward.

 

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

Got in touch with the doctor's assistant a couple of hours ago and told them the Tramadol story. They called back a few minutes later and said the doctor had approved the refill. So, it's only going to be a partial ibuprofen day, as long as CVS gets their act together and fills it early enough.

[The Old Hack 2,448]

29 minutes ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

Got in touch with the doctor's assistant a couple of hours ago and told them the Tramadol story. They called back a few minutes later and said the doctor had approved the refill. So, it's only going to be a partial ibuprofen day, as long as CVS gets their act together and fills it early enough.

Good. It's really annoying to not be able to get your prescriptions filled. And often very unpleasant.

[mlooney 3,417]

4 hours ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

Got in touch with the doctor's assistant a couple of hours ago and told them the Tramadol story. They called back a few minutes later and said the doctor had approved the refill. So, it's only going to be a partial ibuprofen day, as long as CVS gets their act together and fills it early enough.

That's one thing I can be happy about in my life, I've never had problems getting pain pills when I need them.  Brain drugs?  Yeah, had some issues there, but in general not with pain medication.

[ijuin 572]

10 hours ago, mlooney said:

First world drug problem:
My generic Excedrin / "acetaminophen plus aspirin plus caffeine" and my generic "just acetaminophen, but twice as much acetaminophen" tablets look identical and are in the same size and shape bottle. 

It sounds like you might want to mark the bottles with something colorful in order to make them visually distinctive from each other. Stickers, colored sticky tape, colored marker pens, whatever works, as long as there's a big spot of bright and different color on each one.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

5 hours ago, mlooney said:

That's one thing I can be happy about in my life, I've never had problems getting pain pills when I need them.  Brain drugs?  Yeah, had some issues there, but in general not with pain medication.

Yeah, I don't understand my doctor when it comes to my Tramadol. Might be something related to State of Texas regulations or something. In any case, I can't call CVS and have them call him for a refill—he'll turn them down. I have to call the doctor and have him originate any refills.

Even my insurance company is getting paranoid when it comes to Tramadol. They've slapped a 90-day limit of 720 pills (I think) on it. Anything more requires the dreaded "prior approval," which is just a corporate euphemism for "pain in the arse."

[Pharaoh RutinTutin 1,586]

C diff

My mom is in the hospital and has it.  Possibly contracted it along with a UTI in the rehab center where she was supposed to recover from a broken hip.

Any suggestions?

By the way, C diff is an bacterial infection in the intestine.  Symptoms start with diarrhea and get worse.  I hope we don't need to be too specific about the details...

Edited September 16, 2016 by Pharaoh RutinTutin
spelling

[CritterKeeper 1,102]

I'm afraid I'm only familiar with C. perfringens that dogs get, which almost always clears up with Tylan and a few cans of i/d.  From the reactions human medicine types give me when the name Clostridium first comes up, I gather it's not so easy to deal with.

I'm sorry to hear your mom is having such troubles.  I hope at least that her hip is healing?

[Pharaoh RutinTutin 1,586]

The bruise following the surgery is healing.

But I don't think physical therapy and rehabilitation is likely with advanced dementia.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

6 hours ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

Any suggestions?

No suggestions, but prayers. Not to ancient Egyptian gods, though. Hope she gets better.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

Had to dip into the extra Tramadol pills tonight. I've been hurting from top to bottom (not that bottom, the foot/ankle bottom). This is a Sudafed day, wherein I take Sudafed instead of Afrin nose spray to prevent rebound effects. Sudafed is never as effective. Add to it the fact that ragweed pollen levels are high ahd ... well, you get the picture.

The bottom end is my left ankle again. That's the #1 reason for the extra Tramadol. Seems to be helping a little.

I'm going to have to time my medications very carefully Saturday (9/17). It's my son's birthday, and we're taking him out for a sushi feast. A bottle of unfiltered sake is a tradition for me when we go to his favorite restaurant. Can't let my medicines interfere with tradition.

[ijuin 572]

14 hours ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

No suggestions, but prayers. Not to ancient Egyptian gods, though. Hope she gets better.

Yes, Pharaoh RutinTutin gets annoyed when people pray to him.

[mlooney 3,417]

I have found my latest none drug sleep aid "Rheinmetall Weaponry Handbook 1982, English version." Weird German translation, and just enough math to be make your eyes glaze over. It's a theory of weapons design book, not something like Jane's

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

I think I'm going to have to ask my psychiatrist for a larger dosage of Trintellix at my next appointment. The 10mg level just doesn't seem to be doing the trick anymore.

There goes my budget.

[mlooney 3,417]

I tried to check in on the web for my shrink.  The "My Chart" page would not load.   Grumble, etc.  Curse Cox Cable, etc.

Call and talk to a person, to find out when my next appointment is.

She can't tell me, their whole network is down.  Which explains why I couldn't get the "My Chart" thing up either.

Le Sigh.

[mlooney 3,417]

I was going make today a "take Adderall and get a lot done on 'EoIS'", but I made myself a cup of coffee this morning.  I strongly suspect that, based on my current heart rate, that if I took even a half tablet of Adderall right now, I would be reenacting the last part of "Bat out Hell", by M. Loaf

Quote

And I think somebody somewhere must be tolling a bell
And the last thing I see is my heart
Still beating still beating
Still beating still beating
Breaking out of my body, and flying away
Like a bat out of hell

And if you don't know what this is, please, don't tell me and get off my lawn.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

Still waiting here for the increase in my Trintellix dose to really start working. My psych upped it from 10mg to the max of 20mg. (Strangely enough, that didn't come with a price increase—they charge by the number of pills, not by the number of milligrams.) So far, it's left me kind of knocked out, I think. It might have helped keep me from going thermonuclear when my wife decided to clean house this past weekend (she moves my stuff and NEVER remembers where she put it when I go to look for it).

[CritterKeeper 1,102]

9 minutes ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

 (Strangely enough, that didn't come with a price increase—they charge by the number of pills, not by the number of milligrams.) 

Yeah, every now and then we get a med where the active ingredient is such a miniscule part of the cost of manufacture that pills cost almost the same for very different doses.  Ususally, that means instead of prescribing a 2.5mg tablet, we'll prescribe 5.0mg tablets and have them give a half-tablet.  Unfortunately, if a tablet isn't scored then the medication may not be evenly distributed within it, so it's supposedly not a good idea to break tablets which aren't scored.  (Still, if this tablet is scored, it might be worth asking your doc whether you can get tablets twice the size and take half-tablets....)

[ijuin 572]

Yes, the amount of active ingredient is not the determiner of the costs--the vast majority of the costs incurred by the drug company are for marketing, distribution, and researching the drug in the first place. This gives an incentive for customers/patients to buy a pill that is twice as large and slice it in half (if it's a tablet and not a capsule).

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

Hoo boy. I got a phone call a little while back that has me a bit rattled.

I've been seeing a hematologist for a little more than a year due to an elevated white blood cell count. On all previous visits, he said that my cells were of the neutrophilic kind—basically a reaction to an infection or some other minor thing. Nothing to worry about.

The call I received today changed that.

He said that my most recent blood work, drawn at my appointment this week, showed possible myelocite and metamyelocite cells. Both can signal anything from a minor infection to stuff I don't want to think about. They would certainly explain why he said I "didn't look good" at my appointment, if the tests were accurate. They'd also explain why I haven't been feeling good this week.

I've got to go back to get another round of blood work done this coming Monday so he can rule out the nasty stuff (I hope). Wish me luck, please.

[ijuin 572]

Myelocites . . . those are the ones that produce the insulating myelin sheathes on nerve fibers? If there's a lot of those active, then it does sound like your body has decided that it needs to rebuild some nerves for some reason . . .